The Tax Man

H/T to Hot Air. This is just too funny not to share.

It seems that when potential donors entered their pledges online, they received an acknowledgement page. Several people received the following:

Thank you for your contribution. Each year, tens of thousands of people from across the country make the decision to support the Party and Democratic candidates. Today you stood up and added not only to the Party’s available resources, but to the larger sense of community and civic responsibility that we as Democrats stand for.

As part of that community, a Democratic donor agreed to match your contribution today. Their information appears below, and you have the opportunity to send a message to the person who is matching you. If you like, you can exchange information and build a longer-lasting relationship — or, you can move on without sending a message at all.

Again, thank you for your support.

Your contribution has been matched by:
Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan

A message to you from the person who matched your contribution:
With Democrats in charge of the Congress, America will run like dogs from Iraq. What a glorious day for jihad that will be! Defeat the infidels. Vote Democratic in ‘06!

That is a hoot! Not to mention aptly put.

Here is the link for the original discovery.
Here is the post on how they did it. Not exactly high tech, but still pretty damn good.

Tomorrow, October 24th, 2006 is the 3rd annual Day of Silent Solidarity. For most of us who are no longer in collage or high-school, we may not know what this event is all about. I wanted to take the opportunity to increase the awareness of this event.

Plus, it’s just the sort of thing that will drive the ACLU and its Pro-Choice partners batty.

Students participating in the Day of Silent Solidarity will have cards, or tags which have the following, or similar, saying written on them:

“Every day in the United States of America over 4,000 American citizens are silenced against their wills. They have their voices permanently silenced and they never get the opportunity to speak on behalf of themselves. Today we stand in silent solidarity with those who have been silenced. Today we are silent, but by doing this we are being a voice for the one-third of our generation that will never have a voice. These victims are not only being silenced; they are being killed. The victims we stand on behalf of are not going to be mentioned on the news. The victims we stand on behalf of will not have a funeral. The victims we stand on behalf of were ripped from the safety and warmth of their mothers’ wombs. The victims we stand on behalf of were not blobs of tissue, but beautiful human persons, with hearts that beat, brains that gave out brain waves, and a soul. These are the victims of the abortion holocaust. Every day over 4,000 babies have their lives ended in the name of choice. Since January 22, 1973, over 46 million babies have died. The time is now to stand on behalf of these innocent victims.”

This is not a message that is going to be embraced by our schools. In the past two years schools have taken various steps to limit or impact this event. This is a non-intrusive, student lead event which takes place outside of instructional time. Even silence is free speech.

To learn more about the Day of Solidarity, visit the official website. You can also see if your school is participating.

Another interesting point, the Alliance Defense Fund put out the following release with regards t the Day of Silent Solidarity.

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund are ready to offer legal help to students at schools across America who choose to participate Tuesday in the 3rd Annual Day of Silent Solidarity if their First Amendment rights are violated. The Day of Silent Solidarity is an event that encourages pro-life students to exercise their free speech rights on the subject of abortion.

“Pro-life speech is protected under the First Amendment and cannot be silenced because of its particular point of view,” said ADF Senior Counsel Gary McCaleb. “The Day of Silent Solidarity is a non-disruptive, student-led event that takes place outside of instructional time. School officials are not legally permitted to silence students who choose to participate in this event simply because they don’t like its viewpoint.”

I pray this event goes well and convicts many. If this message persists in our school perhaps we will have less to be concerned about in the years the follow.

I picked up the following from the Dow Jones Newswire:

Ford Motor Co. (F), in the midst of a massive restructuring of its North American operations, on Monday reported a preliminary third-quarter net loss of $5.8 billion, or $3.08 per share, representing the company’s largest quarterly loss since 1992.

The auto maker also said it will restate earnings results dating back to 2001 to correct the accounting for certain transactions entered into to hedge interest-rate risk. The restatement for all periods, including the third-quarter results, should be finalized by the time the company files its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission next month.

[…]

North American operations continued to be the biggest drag on the overall performance. The company’s automotive operations in the region posted a pre-tax loss of $2 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year ago and compared with $1.3 billion in the second quarter. North American automotive revenue fell to $15.4 billion from $18.2 billion, as sales of pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles suffered amid concerns about high fuel prices and rising interest rates, among other factors.

Ouch. A loss of almost $6 Billion (with a B) or $3.08 represents a huge problem from Ford, its shareholders, and the employees. I will not presume to speak to the business factors of what is going on inside Ford. However, I do have to question if there is a philosophical reason behind this drastic drop.

I am tempted, as a Conservative Christian, to point to Fords vocal support for the Homosexual Agenda. As you may know, several Conservative Christian Groups including the American Family Association, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family and American Values have called for a boycott of Ford for its outspoken support to homosexual groups and gay marriage. You would be hard pressed to find an American company who has contributed more than Ford to these causes.

I have to question the logic of any organization who would intentionally place themselves into such an emotive argument such as Homosexual rights. No matter which side Ford would have chose, they would have alienated no small number of potential buyers. Why not stay silent on the issue? Ford is not alone, Wal-Mart is taking a similar road.

I am confident that Ford’s problems are deeper than the various boycotts. I am sure Ford would point to the international competition from companies like Toyota, which surly has some merit. Yet there seems to be a shocking lack of good sense at the executive level over at Ford. Perhaps the name Ford doesn’t automatically indicate the wisdom and capability to run one of the world’s largest auto makers.

I divested myself of my Ford stock around this time last year. Yes, it was for ethical reasons, but it looks like it was good financial sense as well. Ford is a major employer, and feeds about 110,000 US families. I hope they find and address this problem quickly, for the sake of those families. I believe the first step is to focus on making good quality cars, not corporate activism.

The following humorous tidbit from WNBC new York:

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Republican challenger reportedly accused the former first lady of being ugly and said she had “millions of dollars” in plastic surgery conducted to improve her appearance, according to Monday’s New York Daily News.

The newspaper said former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer made the remarks last Friday morning en route to the Senate campaign debate in Rochester. Spencer trails the Democratic incumbent by a wide margin in all the polls.

Well, as crude as it is for him to say… he is right. That is a face only a mother could love.